Hales Corners apartment fire: 1 building a total loss, no injuries

HALES CORNERS, Wis. - The American Red Cross is assisting eight families – 15 people, including kids – displaced by a two-alarm apartment complex fire in Hales Corners Friday morning, June 4.

Three of the eight-unit buildings at Plum Tree Apartments near 108th and College were evacuated after the blaze began around 5 a.m. Everyone escaped in time without injury. However, the building is a total loss. 

FOX6 News learned a woman and an off-duty firefighter helped evacuate residents.

"(The fire) took all those second-floor units, and there’s eight units in the entire apartment and then a lot of the damage on the first floor was a lot of water," Hales Corners Fire Chief Peter Jaskulski.

Residents and neighbors described a terrifying scene.

"It's terrifying to think that's someone's home," said David Eberhardy, who lives nearby.

Flames and large clouds of smoke were visible from all angles. 

"All of the sudden I saw this black smoke coming up. I thought, my goodness, this is not good," said apartment complex resident Jim Preiss.

The fire chief said he spoke to all those affected by the fire, touched by their sense of community.

"They’re great people who have just had a great deal of loss," said Jaskulski. "I’m just so happy everybody is safe."

After losing everything in the fire, neighbors delivered a wedding dress to a future bride. It was salvaged by first responders battling the blaze. She said it was all she had left. Someone has offered to clean the woman's wedding dress, the chief said.

The cause of the fire is not considered suspicious at this time and remains under investigation.